Novus Partus: Rise
by Jack Hargreave
Summary: "For centuries the religious zelots preached of our impending doom. And at long last we face our apocalypse. Yet despise our losses... a savior still stands amongst us..."


**Hey, and welcome to my second story.**

**This is a sequel of sorts to my other story "Novus Partus".**

**If you haven't read it… well it's not the end of the world, you'll probably catch on pretty quickly. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 13 or any of its sequels. **

**And please, leave a review and let me know what you think.**

_**Novus Partus: Rise**_

Wave upon wave washed over her, pulling her down in the dark embrace of the ocean. She fought against them, kicking away with her legs and pulling the endless currents with her arms. She breached the surface, managed to take a new breath of fresh air before gravity pulled her down once again.

For a brief moment, she wondered how she had ended up in that situation… her memories since she woke up were… vague at best. But none of that mattered at the moment. She was in a fight for her life… against _freaking_ water no less!

She breached the surface yet again, filled her lungs with air and descended into the darkness yet again. She was pulled deeper than before. Her legs kicked and her arms tried to bring her back up, but it was no use. She had reached the end of her stamina. Her limbs lost to the currents, one by one. Her right arm was the final limb to fight the ocean, defiantly trying to reach the surface until the end. Darkness won in the end…

The sound of crashing waves was like soft whispers of angels in her ears… the cold water from said waves against her wet and frozen body less so. She gasped for air, filling her lungs with air and mouth with sand. She caught and spat, silently wondering where she had ended up. Her eyes were locked shut by exhaustion, unable to be opened in her current state.

The darkness was making an encore, as if it thought the audience had enjoyed the show. She for one hadn't enjoyed it a bit. There was so much to do… Caius… Valhalla… Etro… and most importantly… _Serah._

A sudden, unfamiliar voice managed to cut through the waves. "Look at this!"

It sounded like a male… but she wasn't entirely sure.

"Whoa, is this who I think it is?" a younger, maybe female voice asked.

"I think so", the male said. "The chairman will be pleased."

"Payday", the female said, reeking with satisfaction.

She felt two pairs of hands grab her shoulders and drag her away from the crashing waves. Darkness was triumphant yet again.

She awoke face down on a soft mattress, having slept for Etro knew how long. She slowly sat up and took in her surroundings. She had slept in a small room with darkish green color scheme. The furniture oozed Academy… white design chairs around a white table, a high-tech fridge, stow and sink with all the necessary kitchen appliances. There were no window and no trace of personal touches in the room. She doubted someone called it his or her home. It was more like a safehouse or temporary shelter.

A tired sigh escaped her lips as she moved her hands through her pink hair, being extra careful to not poke her face with the shield strapped to her left arm. But the shield wasn't there. Neither was her armor.

She was wearing a black and white attire which reminded her of her old military uniform with elements of the Academy's field uniform mixed in the fray. Red poaches on her shoulders and hip, a new set of belts and fingerless gloves and finally a blue cape over her back. Lightning frowned… but didn't find the clothes unappealing. The thought that someone had stripped her of her armor to get the new attire onto her was however not as appealing. Her fist clenched in instinctive anger. _Someone needs to be thought a lesson._

But that wouldn't get her anywhere right now. She needed to get oriented and… and what exactly? What was her goal? _Saving her sister and the world of course_. But how would she complete such a feat? Charging thoughtlessly into whatever opposition she ran into would not end in a satisfactory manner. The previous events were painful evidence of that.

A cold wave rushed through her. _Serah…_

Her heart skipped a beat at the memory of her sister's lifeless body in front of Etro's throne… and then her final conversation with her… the final promise she had given. A promise she would fulfill no matter what.

"_Then don't just sit there, silly"_, a faint voice whispered.

She shot up from the mattress. _Serah!_

There was no one else in the room. The only source of sound was a white and black clock on the farthest wall. Lightning took a heavy breath. Was that her imagination? Maybe a part of her subconscious telling her what she wanted to hear? _No!_ She shocked her head. Her last conversation with her sister could be disregarded with the same kind of thinking. She knew in her heart that Serah was watching over her. There was no doubt of that.

"No reason to waste time then", she reasoned. "We'll meet again… I promise."

She made her way to the middle of the room, finding a note on the table. An eyebrow rose at the sight even before she read the content. Paper was hardly used during the Sanctum days, and the Academy took further steps away from such primitive ways of saving information and sending messages. That was what she remembered at least.

The thought was diminished as soon as it crossed her mind. She had more important things to worry about.

The note caught her attention.

"_Dear Champion of Etro!_

_We're sorry for any and all inconveniences you've endured since you rose from your slumber._

_We understand if you need some time to gather your thoughts._

_You may take whatever you need from this room, it's not much, but we hope you'll find some use of it. _

_The food in the fridge is not the best, but that's what we have on the menu. _

_I advise you to eat quickly. _

_Proceed to the next room when you're ready, the boss wants to have a word or two with you._

_Hearts!"_

Her stomach grumbled for the first time in a very long while. She frowned in surprise. She hadn't been hungry in a very long time. Hunger was nothing she had to worry about while she had been in Valhalla. Why would that change now? Had the rules been rewritten after the two worlds had merged? Maybe a few of them mixed together as well… creating a whole new set of natural laws in the world. _The Academy would be in seventh heaven_, she mused as she raided the fridge for anything edible.

She found a loaf of bread, some sort of substance which reminded her of butter, a weird vegetable, vaguely looking like a blue tomato. She also found a bottle of water, and some ice in the icebox.

Two minutes later, and the feast was ready for her eating pleasure: three slices of bread with butter and blue tomatoes and a large glass of water with ice.

"Well, here goes", she said and took a large chunk from her first sandwich… she had to fight to keep it in the mouth. Terrible didn't justify how awful it tasted! She forced it down none the less and glared at the rest of her meal in disgust. _That's why the writer told me to eat fast… just great._

She decided to put down the sandwich and leave the room hungry. Her stomach growled in contempt at the thought. Aching pain, the one she associated with hunger bordering starvation made itself very apparent. The body had spent all of its reserves and was in dire need of nourishment, with or without her mouth's approval. She forced her eyes down to the sandwiches again after giving the fridge a sideway glance. There had been some other food in there, but nothing which looked more appealing than what she had on her plate.

"There are some things you just do", she quoted and bit into the sandwich again.

It took her the better part of a quarter of an hour before she had managed to down her sandwiches and surprisingly quelled her hunger. _That's good at least_, she reasoned and made her way towards an doorway on the opposite side of the room.

She exited into a long hallway with one door on the other end and one roughly halfway through. Her first thought was to go straight through the opposite door, but something compelled her to pause at the other. It was made of heavy wood, painted black and bearing the golden, rounded crest of the Academy. "They're still around?" she asked.

She didn't really know what to expect from whatever offspring the merging of Valhalla and Pulse had created. How many had been consumed in the malevolent waves of chaos? How many were left?

Those were questions that needed to be answered, that needed to be explored to understand. Searching her surroundings before venturing too far was a good step to begin with.

She pressed down the handle and stepped over the threshold. An invisible wave rolled over her when her foot touched the floor. Knowledge and memories flooded through her with flashing images of coming events. Pain and suffering. Crumbling buildings and burning streets. Drying sees and lands filled by famine and sickness. _Thirteen days._ She knew the end… _just like that._

She sank down against a nearby wall… it was much to take in on her already busy plate. Glowed hands fisted her hair, slowly massaging her head with her knuckles.

"Quite the predicament, isn't it", a vaguely familiar voice asked from the darkness.

Her body was up in a flash, falling into her combat stance with her fists ready to meet any hidden threat. The room was completely dark, not even the faint light from the hallway managed to illuminate the darkness at all. And not even her otherwise adaptive night eye was able to make out any wall or furniture. "Who's there?" she demanded.

A heave sigh echoed in the room. "Very well, masks off then. I wanted to speak face to face anyway."

She watched as a hazy pillar of light formed in the center of the room, revealing a man in his late twenties if one judged by his looks. He wore a black coat with golden stripes on the sides and arms, black boots, black pants and a yellow and black uniform which she barely could make out beneath the coat. He had a youthful, yet stoic face with greenish blue eyes and silvery hair as a finishing touch.

She recognized him alright. "Hope?"

The man made a faint gestation in the air. "What's left of us at least… Lightning Farron."

That… was not how Lightning had expected him to greet her if she ever would have met him again. His face didn't betray any emotion or thoughts.

Lightning cleared her throat as a storm of questions raged through her head. "What's going on? Where are we?"

Hope flinched at the questions. "There's much to talk about… too much in fact."

_Thirteen days…_ She nodded. "Yes, I know… of sorts."

He locked his hands behind his back and regained his stoic expression. "The fourteenth day is coming to its end. The thirteenth day will begin within the hour…"

Hope proceeded to give her a rundown of what had happened since Pulse and Valhalla had emerged. Lightning could tell that he skipped most of it and stuck to the basics of the new world. Novus Partus… his stoicism cracked a bit at times, usually when he happened to compare the past with the present.

"That's about it, Lightning Farron", he finally said. "We're sure you got some questions."

Indeed she did. Millions of them wanted to be voiced, and she didn't know which one was more important than the others. She looked down on her hands for help and stared at her new gloves. "What's with these clothes?"

A small smile flashed on his face. "Are you serious?"

Lightning frowned, a fist clenching. "Wipe that grin off your face or I'll do it for you." She wasn't beyond decking him if provokes, especially if he had been the one to change her clothing.

He regained his composure, though with a ghost of a smile lingered on his lips. "Our apologies, we weren't expecting you to bring up such trivial matters."

"Are you going to answer or not?" Lightning asked, completely ignoring his excuse.

"Two of my associates found you in a bad shape; they took you to this safe house and got you patched up. Your armor was heavily damaged…"

_Associates…_ Lightning remembered the two voices when she woke up on the beach. One of them had been a male. "And they were the ones to do it?"

He actually laughed this time. "We didn't think of you as the prude type, Lightning Farron. But we suppose you're wondering if any male did any of the work. If so, then no, the one who cleaned you up and got you dresses was a woman… and don't worry, she doesn't swing that way. Professional doctor and patient relationship, nothing else."

_That…_ made her feel at ease… until she realized how shallow the question had been. Traces of embarrassment flickered on her face. "How do you know about the end?" she asked, desperate to change the subject before her former pupil decided to make fun of her.

"We've had several dreams about it for a while now. The same applies for other people around the world as well."

"Did these dreams show you the exact date as well?" Lightning asked, feeling a bit surprised.

"No, but the data is there for anyone who locks", Hope explained. "The monsters are acting more aggressively than ever, and we've detected more activity in the chaos as well. The final piece in the puzzle was the clocks."

"The clocks?" Lightning asked in disbelief.

"Indeed, they've started to act strangely to say the least. Needless to say, we know that the end is upon us." He met her eyes with his gaze. "And only you can finish what we started, nearly a millennia ago."

"Right", Lightning said. _For Serah…_

Hope looked to her left and snapped his fingers. A second pillar of light appeared, illuminating a small table. On it were two objects, a blazefire sable and a small earpiece. "It's not much, but it's a start, Lightning Farron."

She picked up the gunblade, giving it a quick examination. The weight was familiar and the grip felt perfect for her. She gave the earpiece a critical glance. "What's up with this?"

"So we can keep in touch with you and provide information", Hope explained.

"You're not coming yourself?" Lightning asked, genially surprises. She had figured he'd help her like he did during the l'cie days.

He shook his head. "No, certain restrictions prevent us from directly intervening in this matter. I'm also too far away from you to reach you before too much time has passed. You're on your own, Lightning Farron."

Lightning frowned. "Too far away? You're right there."

He sighed. "No, this isn't us at all. It's a duplicate."

She remembered about those from when she watched the world's progress from Valhalla. A sort of solid hologram made up of Nano machines. Serah and Noel had encountered them in Augusta Tower. They had also been an important part of the Academy society if she remembered correctly. Serving as housekeepers, boyfriends/girlfriends and much more. The one with Hope's appearance had apparently been a rather popular model, especially with singles. She held her suspicions about what the one in front of her had been used for to herself. Lightning had a hard time keeping herself from laughing though.

Hope seemed to get what she was thinking about and sighed loudly. "Don't even think about it. It's one of very few surviving models, beggars can't be picky after all."

"Sorry, it's just funny", Lightning snickered. She slowly regained her composure. "So, care to tell where you really are?"

He shook his head. "No, not when there may be others listening as well. Where we may or may not be is of no importance. Not for now at least."

She understood and could respect that. "Okay, what now?"

"The thirteenth day is dawning, Lightning Farron. Go and see the new world. See it and save it."

Lightning nodded, taking that as the signal to go. "I will."

Hope said one last thing before the duplicate evaporated. "We're sorry about your sister, Lightning Farron."

"_So am I." _

**Sorry for any and all grammatical errors. English is obviously not my first language.**

**I hope you enjoyed the story.**

**I made the gap in Hope's explanation because we don't know that much about the world right now. I leave it up to the readers' interpretation until we get more info. **

**I also imagine that Hope won't be as popular amongst the people this time around, considering that the people seems to have discarded the Academy in favor of worshiping Bhunivelze, the main god in the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology. **

**Then again, I may be wrong about that, and Hope turns out to be the main priest/pope of the religion in the game. But that would be a very uncharacteristic change in my opinion. **

**I plan on writing more stories, and will keep posting them here until they create a Lightning Returns section. Provided there's interest in it after all. **


End file.
